The present invention is directed to an air-blow valve designed for clean-in-place capability and operatively connected to a sanitizing-fluid source, to render the air-blow valve sanitary. The present invention is also directed to a sanitary clean-in-place air-blow valve that is designed to be used in connection with conventional fluid-transport systems.
The use of an air-blow valve in conventional fluid-treatment and fluid-processing facilities is well known in the art. Such air-blow valves may sometimes be referred to as xe2x80x9cair-blow check-valve assembliesxe2x80x9d that serve to allow pressurized air to be injected into a fluid conduit, wherein the pressurized air is used to cause the injected fluid to move from the point of injection to an opening in the conduit spaced from the fluid-injection point. When used thusly, air-blow valves may be operatively connected to a vast assortment of conventional fluid-transport or solids-transport systems to recover, e.g., food products from a supply line, for conveying the recovered products to suitable storage facilities.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,458,230 to Warcup is directed to the field of a cleaning means for beer dispensers. In particular, Warcup discloses a valve having four internal chambers, wherein the valve is designed to allow water to enter the first chamber and pass to the second chamber, which is connected to a beer line. The Warcup valve is further designed to allow beer to pass to the beer line via the second and third chambers. In the Warcup valve, air is able to pass into the fourth chamber, to enable a rod to engage and move a valve element, thereby to permit fluid communication between the first and second chambers. The Warcup design does not permit water to enter the third chamber.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,366 to Wiggins, a valve for supplying paint is disclosed. Also disclosed is an embodiment wherein several Wiggins valves are joined to a housing to form a multi-color spray-painting assembly. The assembly is adapted to be operatively connected to a pressurized supply of solvent and, separately, to paint. In that regard, the assembly is adapted to be separately connected to several different-colored paints.
One feature of each Wiggins valve permits automatically purging certain internal chambers of the assembled valves when the paint supply to an individual valve is cut off.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,420 to Kromrey discloses a clean-in-place valve-actuating device that is used to facilitate the cleaning of a machine for providing soft ice cream and milkshakes. The Kromrey valve-actuating device permits the cleaning-in-place of such a machine, eliminating the need to dismantle the machine for manual cleaning thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,907 to Wagner is directed to a device used for cleaning carbonated beverage-dispensing systems. The essence of the Wagner device is a rather complex valve having a number of interrelated fluid passageways or internal chambers.
For example, in the Wagner patent, water or a cleaning agent may be introduced either into a first or into a second chamber of the valve. A piston, longitudinally disposed in the first valve chamber, has a third chamber formed therein. The piston, moreover, is especially designed to enable the first and second chambers to be in fluid communication via the third chamber. A fourth chamber of the valve is in fluid communication, via a flow-check valve, with a beverage source. Pressurized carbon dioxide is used to move the beverage from its source, via the flow-check valve, into the fourth chamber. A fifth chamber of the valve is in fluid communication with a line for dispensing the beverage to a consumer. A sixth chamber of the Wagner valve is in fluid communication, directly, with the beverage source. The flow-check valve is designed to permit fluid flow from the sixth chamber into the fourth chamber, but not vice versa. The fifth chamber of the valve is in direct fluid communication with the first four of the above-mentioned chambers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,694 to Zimmerly, et al., a bottom-fill clean-in-place (CIP) system is disclosed. Illustrated in the patent are a number of Zimmerly, et al. valves, at least as complex as the Wagner valve, wherein the Zimmerly, et al. valves are operatively connected to plural pipelines for separately providing raw materials and/or CIP solution to the bottom portion of a row of tanks and for withdrawing liquid product such as milk therefrom.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,192 to Pera shows a cleaning device for a milk plant. To achieve cleaning of pipelines, disassembly and re-assembly of the pipelines is required.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,457 to Beck is directed to a so-called xe2x80x9cvacuum breakerxe2x80x9d valve said to have CIP capability. The essence of the Beck valve is yet another rather complex valve defining a number of interrelated fluid passageways or chambers.
For example, in the Beck valve, milk is introduced into a first chamber of the valve. Air may be drawn into a second chamber of the valve. A sphere, disposed in a third chamber of the valve, is able to engage a first valve seat, thereby forming a plurality of so-called xe2x80x9csatellite channels.xe2x80x9d The plurality of satellite channels may collectively be thought of as a fourth chamber. The third and fourth chambers, together, enable the first and second chambers to be in fluid communication. The Beck valve uses an air cylinder to cause a piston, disposed in a fifth chamber, to move. The fifth chamber is in fluid communication with the second chamber. In operation, the sphere is able to sealingly engage a second valve seat, thereby to break fluid communication between the second and third chambers; whereupon the piston, caused to move by the air cylinder, is able to re-establish fluid communication between the second and third chambers of the valve.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,845 to Pereira, et al., a so-called xe2x80x9cbackflush valvexe2x80x9d for a milking machine is disclosed. The backflush valve includes a slide pad that is captively disposed between an inlet plate and an outlet plate. The inlet plate defines a milk inlet and a cleaning-solution inlet. The slide pad defines a milk-flow path. The outlet plate defines a milk outlet. The milk-flow path provides fluid communication between the milk inlet and the milk outlet when the slide pad is in a so-called xe2x80x9cmilkingxe2x80x9d position. The slide pad further defines a cleaning-solution path, which provides fluid communication between the milk inlet and the cleaning-solution inlet, when the slide pad is in a so-called xe2x80x9cbackflushxe2x80x9d position. Compressed air is used to cause a so-called xe2x80x9cdouble actingxe2x80x9d piston, which is disposed within the valve, to move between two spaced-apart positions.
For a number of reasons, principally ever-increasing labor costs and the mandate from management to keep production plants xe2x80x9con stream,xe2x80x9d there is a desire to incorporate CIP systems and xe2x80x9cretirexe2x80x9d procedures that require disassembly and subsequent re-assembly of production-plant component parts, whenever it is possible and economically practical.
As some of the above-discussed patents suggest, dairies and food-treatment plants use CIP systems, to maintain system cleanliness and achieve sanitary conditions. In such CIP systems, however, air-blow valves, for a number of reasons, have been unable to take advantage of being cleaned in place.
To keep valve-maintenance as well as labor and replacement-parts costs to a minimum, it would be desirable to have a valve that is relatively simple in design.
To that end, as my invention illustrates, air-blow valves can be simple in design.
It thus would be desirable to use air-blow valves, simple in design and configured for clean-in-place capability, in various production plants for an assortment of products.
It would be even further desirable to have an air-blow valve, simple in design and adapted for clean-in-place capability, where the valve is also relatively simple to operate.
To that end, my valve is simple to operate. For reasons suggested above, it would therefore be particularly desirable to use, especially in dairies and food-treatment plants, the air-blow valve of this invention, which is adapted to have clean-in-place capability.
The invention thus relates to a clean-in-place air-blow valve which is both simple in construction as well as in operation, with the result that the air-blow valve is reliable.
From the analysis of the prior art patents identified above, no single reference or combination of references is able to achieve the desiderata briefly mentioned herein.
Moreover, in comparison to conventional clean-in-place valves, wherein some of the patents discussed herein are illustrative, the air-blow valve of the present invention employs methods, disclosed in detail below, that have the effect of rendering unnecessary the removal of the present air-blow valve from any associated fluid-transport systems as well as from any fluid-treatment and/or fluid-processing facilities during valve cleaning.
Further in view of inadequacies of the prior art patents, this invention is generally directed to the field of air-blow valves, connected to conventional fluid-treatment and/or fluid-processing facilities which, in turn, are associated with such conventional material-transport systems as liquid-product transport and/or solid-product transport systems.
These and other features of the present invention, which will now be summarized, shall become apparent to those skilled in the art after reviewing this patent specification.
An air-blow valve, configured for clean-in-place capability, comprises a hollow valve body, select valve components, and at least two conduits. The hollow valve body defines an internal chamber presenting an inner surface, an internal shoulder, an internal valve seat, and an internal fluid passageway. The select valve components, disposed in the valve body, include a piston disposed within the chamber, a spring, and a valve plug.
The piston is so adapted and dimensioned relative to the inner surface of the chamber of the valve body as to be slidably engageable in a fluid-tight manner between first and second positions along the chamber inner surface. The spring, captively retained within the valve body, abuttingly engages the piston and the shoulder, for urging the piston into the first position. The valve plug, operatively connected to the piston, is configured (i) to engage the valve seat in a fluid-tight relationship when the piston is in the first position and (ii) to permit fluid flow between the valve plug and the valve seat when the piston is in the second position.
One of the two conduits, which is in fluid communication with a pressurized-air source and operatively connected to the valve body, provides pressurized air to the chamber for urging the piston into the second position. The other of the two conduits, which is in fluid communication with a sanitizing-fluid source and separately connected to the valve body, provides a sanitizing fluid into a portion of the valve body, for sanitizing the valve seat, the valve plug, and the internal fluid passageway.
Preferably, the hollow valve body (summarized above), includes at least two body portions, which define an interfit connection, wherein the interfitting body portions are detachably joined in an air-tight manner.
Also in reference to the air-blow valve (summarized above), the internal chamber is preferably elongated and cylindrical, and the internal shoulder is preferably annular.
Further in reference to the air-blow valve of the invention, the fluid passageway is preferably cylindrical, and the valve seat is preferably xe2x80x9cquasi frusto-conicalxe2x80x9d in shape. This means that the valve seat resembles a frustum in that the valve seat, in sectional view, is seen to include the basal part of a cone-like shape formed by cutting-off the top (of the cone-like shape) via a plane parallel to the base. The valve seat is thus xe2x80x9cquasixe2x80x9d frusto-conical in shape, for the reason that the valve seat, in the illustrated preferred embodiments, is configured to engage the valve plug in a fluid-tight relationship, when the piston is in the first position and the valve plug is operatively connected to the piston.
Still further in reference to the air-blow valve of the present invention, the several valve components enumerated above are preferably characterized as further including an elongated valve stem which is disposed within the valve body. The elongated valve stem has opposite end portions. The piston is releasably affixed adjacent to one end portion of the stem, and the valve plug is mounted on the opposite end portion of the stem. Also, the spring, preferably helical, is captively retained in the valve body by the valve stem.